Driving In Costa Rica: Distance And Duration Of Popular Routes

Thanks for your visit, Ahs Coach! 🙂

Hi Kathleen B Huddle!

Absolutely! The article above includes drive times to Puerto Viejo de Talamanca; here’s a link to the exact place where you can find the info: https://costaricatravelblog.com/costa-rica-driving-distance-duration-for-popular-routes/

We don’t provide drive times between Puerto Viejo de Talamanca and Manuel Antonio because this particular route is a long one that most travelers don’t make, especially in one day. That being said, if you’d like to do it, the drive will be roughly 8 hours, depending on the time of day you make the trip.

As for resources for the Caribbean side of the country, we certainly have these! Since you plan to visit Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, you may want to start with our Puerto Viejo city guide: Must-Know Info About Puerto Viejo Costa Rica And The Southern Caribbean Coast. Additionally, other articles about the Puerto Viejo region can be found here: https://costaricatravelblog.com/category/where-to-go-in-costa-rica/puerto-viejo-de-talamanca/

Pura vida! 🙂

Hey Christopher!

Thanks so much for all of the love! We truly appreciate your interest and preference. 🙂

For the driving route between Monteverde/Santa Elena and Canas (the town nearest to the Tenorio River Rafting Tour meeting place), you have a few options but the most common is to take Road 606 out of downtown Monteverde (Santa Elena center) to the north and follow it all the way until it ends at Road 145. Turn right onto Road 145 and follow it all the way to the town of Tilaran. On the north side of Tilaran, the road forks and you’ll need to veer to the left. After you veer left, you’ll be on Road 142, which will lead you to the town of Canas where you can connect with Costa Rica’s main highway, Highway 1. From there, it’s a short drive up the highway (north) to the rafting tour meeting place. The entire drive takes about 1.5 hours, save for any potential delays such as traffic or poor weather conditions.

For more information about the roads around Monteverde, don’t miss our related blog post Driving To Monteverde: Photos, Road Conditions, Routes, Drive Times, And More!

As for where you should spend the night (you mentioned La Carolina Lodge near Bijagua), this depends entirely on whether you wish to spend time in the Bijagua region, which is (at minimum) a half-hour drive north of the Tenorio River Rafting Tour meeting place (La Carolina Lodge is closer to an hour’s drive north of the Tenorio River Rafting Tour meeting place). If you plan to explore the Bijagua area for a day or two (i.e., if you wish to explore Rio Celeste, which is inside the Tenorio Volcano National Park, or other Bijagua-area attractions), you can certainly head up to the Bijagua region after your rafting tour and spend the night (or a few nights) there. If you don’t plan to spend time exploring Bijagua, though, I’d recommend skipping the drive all the way up there simply to spend one night because you’ll backtrack along the same route the next day when you move on to Potrero.

If you opt not to explore the Bijagua region, and assuming you’re not too tired after rafting, I’d recommend heading to Potrero that same day. The rafting tour typically wraps up in the early afternoon, and since it’s a little less than a two-hour drive from the rafting tour’s meeting place to Potrero, you can complete that drive well before dark.

For the Llanos del Cortes Waterfall, this will be on your way while you travel to Potrero. It’s about a 20-minute drive up the highway from the Tenorio River Rafting Tour meeting place. If you opt to travel up to the Bijagua region to spend a night there after your rafting tour, the drive to the waterfall from Bijagua will take about an hour (or longer, depending on which exact hotel you stay at).

For boat rentals, unfortunately, I don’t have any recommendations for operators based in Potrero but we like Marlin del Rey, who have boats in Tamarindo and Playas del Coco. (They typically offer pick-ups at beach destinations along the coast.) They offer boat charters, but I’m not entirely sure what they offer in terms of custom itineraries to set sites.

Pura vida! 🙂